Infosync World gave this phone an excellent review. They gave it 89% which is the highest score I have seen for a phone they have reviewed for a long time. The smartphones they review tend to receive mediocre scores. The only other phone to come close is the Nokia 6600 which received a score of 84%.
Engadget was also pretty excited about this phone in their post titled "One reason we can’t wait for 3G to take off in the US". This phone is due to arrive in our stores in February so I think I will have a good look at this one and seriously consider it to replace my 6600.
Update:
It turns out that this phone is available locally so I am going to get myself one. I can get it on upgrade and it will only cost me about R319 (about $54) which isn’t too bad. I am waiting for a guy from the phone store to get back to me with a list of what comes in the box. I understand that the phone is meant to come with a USB cable and this would be essential to synchronise my PC with the phone mainly because I can’t get the phone and PC talking over my Bluetooth adaptor.
MMC card update:
I have noticed that there is some concern about the memory cards for the Nokia 6630. There is some info for you here, if you are looking for that.
If you are interested, the feature list from the Nokia site has been reproduced below:
"Full Specifications
Quick links:
- Broadband speed with WCDMA and EDGE
- Dual mode WCDMA/GSM and triband GSM phone for roaming around the world*
- Improved 1.23 megapixel image capture with 6x smooth zoom and sequence mode
- Video recording time up to 1 hour per clip
- Video editing with Nokia Video Editor
- Movie Director application for automated fun video production
- Email and Quickoffice document viewers
- Web browser with improved HTML support
- Direct printing at home, office, retail kiosks
- Hot swap MultiMediaCard (MMC) for data storage
- Multimedia Messaging (MMS)
- Enhanced Media Gallery for storing photos and videos or MP3/AAC music
- Data
Transfer application for transferring contacts, calendar, images,
videos and voice clips from your Nokia 6600 smartphone to your Nokia
6630 imaging smartphone* Please check your network operator for roaming availability and pricing
Dual-mode and Tri-band Operation
- Dual mode WCDMA/GSM operation and tri-band GSM coverage on up to five continents (GSM 900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 networks)
- Automatic switching between bands and modes
Size
- Weight: 127 g
- Dimensions: 110 mm x 60 mm x 21 mm
Display and User Interface
- Bright active matrix TFT color display
- Automatic backlight adjustment
- 65,536 colors
- 176 x 208 pixel resolution
- Series 60 platform
- Graphical user interface with selectable themes
- 5-way navigation key
- 7 personalizable shortcuts to applications in idle mode
Imaging
- 1.3 megapixel camera sensor, effective resolution 1.23 megapixels for image capture (image size 1280 x 960 pixels)
- Smooth 6x digital zoom
- Picture modes: Standard and sequential mode (up to six images captured at short time intervals)
- Display with automatic brightness adjustment
- Self-timer
- Displayed formats: JPEG, GIF87a/89a, EXIF, WBMP, BMP, MBM, PNG
Video Recorder
- Resolution: 174 x 144 pixels or 128 x 96 pixels (QCIF or Sub QCIF)
- Time: from 30 seconds up to 1 hour per clip
- Smooth 6x digital zoom
- 3GPP video streaming
- Recorded formats (encoding): .3gp file format, H.263 video and AMR radio
Real Player
- Download and play multimedia files (video + music)
- Stream media files files from compatible media portals
- Full-screen video playback on the phone to view downloaded, streamed, or recorded video clips in bigger size
- Played formats (decoding): .3gp and .mp4 file formats, MPEG-4
video, H.263 video and AMR audio, RealMedia (Real Video and Real
Audio), MP3 and AACMemory Functions
- 10 MB internal dynamic memory for contacts, text messages,
multimedia messages, ringing tones, images, video clips, calendar
notes, to-do list, and applications- Expandable memory: 64 MB Reduced Size Dual Voltage
(1.8/3V) MultiMediaCard (MMC)*- Hot swap slot for easy MMC card insertion and removal
Note: The inbuilt MultiMediaCard (MMC) reader in Nokia 6630
imaging smartphone functions on 1.8 Volt, and therefore it requires
dual voltage MMC (the card can support both 1.8V and 3.0V). Separately
sold Nokia branded reduced size MultiMediaCards (MMC) are dual voltage
cards.
* Please note that the memory capacity of the
MultiMediaCard (MMC) in the sales package may vary depending on the
market and/or your network operator/service provider.
- Multimedia messaging: Combine image,
video, text and voice clip and send as MMS to a compatible phone or PC;
use MMS to tell your story with a multi-slide presentation- Automatic resizing of your megapixel image to fit MMS. (max.300 KB attachment size depending on the network)
- Email: Access email accounts whether work or personal; supports SMTP, POP3, and IMAP4 protocols
- Text messaging: Supports concatenated SMS; picture messaging; SMS distribution list
- Predictive text input: Support for all major languages in Europe and Asia-Pacific
- Instant Messaging
- Bluetooth wireless technology: Headset Profile (HS), Handsfree Profile (HF) and Basic Imaging Profile (BIP)
- USB 2.0 full speed via Pop-Port™ interface
- Local synchronization of contacts and calendar to a compatible PC using compatible Nokia PC Suite
- Remote over-the-air synchronization with SyncML
- Send and receive images, video clips, graphics and business cards via Bluetooth wireless technology
- Additional
Bluetooth profiles with Bluetooth connectivity: Basic Printing Profile
(BPP) using Image print or Info print applications, Human Interface
Device Profile (HID) using Wireless Keyboard application. These
applications are installed on most memory cards provided with the
device. In case you want to install the mentioned applications, you can
download the installation files from the Nokia 6630 imaging smartphone Support section >>Browsing
- WAP 2.0 XHTML/HTML multimode browser
- Improved
web compatibility with support for HTML 4.01, including support for
elements such as image maps, background images, and frames- Support for a subset of JavaScript 1.5, which includes the most commonly used functions found on the Internet
- File upload over HTTP using standard HTML forms
- Small screen rendering option including a faster page-up/page-down scrolling style
- Full-screen mode, download progress bar, and adaptive history list
- 3GPP video streaming
- OMA DRM 1.0 – including forward lock for content protection, combined delivery, separate delivery and superdistribution
- Wallet: Convenient online use and storage of your numbers and passwords
Data Transfer
- WCDMA 2100 – Maximum download 384kbps; upload 128kbps
- EGPRS (Class B, Multislot class 10) – Maximum download 236.8kbps; upload 118.4kbps
- GPRS (Class B, Multislot class 10) – Maximum download 53.6 kbps
Call Management
- Contacts: Advanced contacts database
with support for multiple phone and email details per entry, also
supports thumbnail picture and groups- Speed dialing
- Logs: Keeps lists of your dialed, received, and missed calls
- Automatic redial
- Automatic answer (works with compatible headset or car kit only)
- Supports Fixed Dialing Number, which allows calls only to predefined numbers
- Conference call
- Downloadable Java™ MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 applications
- 3D API (JSR-184)
Voice Features
- Voice dialing
- Voice commands
- Voice recorder
- Integrated handsfree speaker
Digital Services
- Symbian applications available from Nokia Software Market
- Graphics, icons, animations, logos
- Games: Possibility to download new games
- Ringing tones: True Tones, polyphonic tones
- Themes: Possibility to download new themes
Sales Package Contents
- Nokia 6630 imaging smartphone
- 64MB MultiMediaCard (MMC) MU-1*
- Adapter for normal size MMC slots
- Nokia Stereo Headset HDS-3
- Nokia Battery BL-5C
- Nokia Travel Charger ACP-12
- Nokia Connectivity Cable (USB) DKU-2
- CD-ROM containing software and guides
* Please note different MultiMediaCard (MMC) configurations may be available depending on country or operator configuration
<blockquote><table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3" border="0" bgcolor="#9a9a9a"><tbody><tr bgcolor="#cccccc">
<td width="25%" valign="top"><em>Battery</em></td>
<td width="25%" valign="top" align="center"><em>Capacity</em></td>
<td width="25%" valign="top" align="center"><em>Talk time</em></td>
<td width="25%" valign="top" align="center"><em>Standby time</em></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
<td valign="top"><em>BL-5C</em></td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><em>900 mAh Li-lon</em></td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><em>Up to 2-6 h</em></td>
<td valign="top" align="center"><em>Up to 6-11 days</em></td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote>
What do you think?